One Year Later
by Katie Dragneel
Summary: In which Lucy reacts differently when Natsu shows up after his year of training. How will Natsu react when he expected to have a warm welcoming?
1. Chapter 1

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

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Lucy was enraged as she watched the _challenger_ take down his last opponent. How dare he come back after being gone for a year and treat his absence like it was nothing. She was lonely for an entire year, crying herself to sleep every night hoping that she would see one of her friends again. Now that one was here though, she just wanted him to leave again. He left her a _note_. He didn't even tell her in person that he was leaving. Left her all alone, distraught over the guild disbanding and losing Aquarius.

Lucy felt a tear escape one of her eyes as Natsu turned to face her. He was grinning his signature grin. Acting like everything was normal. Acting like he didn't break her heart, stomping on it over and over again until it was reduced to dust. Acting like the old Natsu. He wasn't the old Natsu though. The old Natsu would've been there for her. The man standing before her was just a shadow of the man he once was.

"Hey, good to see ya Lucy. How's it going?" Natsu said with a smile. It was all too much too fast. The same smile, same voice, same face, different Natsu. It was like looking into a mirror that shows the past. Only Lucy didn't want to see the past. All she wanted to see was a future without Natsu. She couldn't be having him hurt her again. Not with how much it hurt the first time. She's put up walls since then, and she wasn't planning on taking them down with just one appearance from a ghost.

When Lucy looked back at Natsu to see he still had the smile on his face, only a slightly confused expression to go along with it, she turned around and sprinted towards her house. Away from Natsu, away from the world. She ran as fast as she could, ignoring the pedestrians shocked and confused faces. She sprinted until she found herself lying on her bed, holding Aquarius's broken key to her chest. One look at the tracking grid on her wall and that was all it took.

She broke.

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 **Sorry it's so short, just wanted a good first chapter before launching off into the story!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

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Natsu watched in shock as Lucy sprinted out of the arena. What had he done to make her act like that? Was it that he left without saying anything? He thought she would be over that by now.

"Natsu?" Happy said flying over to his salmon haired best friend.

"Yeah, lil' buddy?" Natsu asked looking up at the blue exceed.

"Lucy is weird." Happy said bluntly, causing Natsu to chuckle slightly. He just nodded a little, agreeing with Happy.

"Well, let's go Happy." Natsu said, sniffing the air for Lucy's scent. Once he found it, he and Happy set out for Lucy's house.

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When they finally found Lucy's apartment, which took close to a hour thanks to how many people there were in Crocus, they were met with silence.

"Natsu, do you think we have the right place?" Happy asked after Natsu knocked for the fifth time.

"Positive, my nose never lies." Natsu replied confidently. While it was true that Natsu's nose had never led them astray before, there _were_ a lot of scents that were unfamiliar in Crocus.

Happy just smirked though and said, "Yeah, sure, whatev-NATSU!" Happy looked, wide eyed, to the pyromaniac in front of him. His gaze switched multiple times between Natsu's lit up fists to Lucy's broken door before sighing and shaking his head. "Should've saw that one coming." Happy mumbled before flying through the doorway.

When the pair got inside, they checked most rooms before meeting in the main room. They both had frowns on their faces when they admitted defeat.

"I guess it's time to go home lil' buddy." Natsu said while dragging his feet towards the door. He had just reached the doorway when he heard the click of a door closing, followed by a sharp gasp, making him turn around.

There stood Lucy with a mix of what looked like shock, sadness, and hatred on her face, making Natsu's frown deepen.

"W-What are you doing here?" Lucy asked furiously. Tears seemed to be building in her eyes. Though Natsu couldn't figure out why.

"We came to say hi. You left so early we didn't get a chance to catch up." Natsu said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe it was, but Lucy wasn't focused on that. She was focused on the fact that he was acting like nothing was wrong. Like they were still in Magnolia, about to go on another job. Lucy couldn't handle it. So, she did the last thing Natsu, or anyone, thought she would do in that moment.

She slapped him.

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 **Thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed! I am going to try to post a new chapter once every three to four days. Please review to let me know what I'm doing wrong and what I am doing right. This is my first Fan Fiction after all.** **Also, isn't dense Natsu the cutest? Actually, any type of Natsu is adorable.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

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Natsu reeled back as Lucy slapped him across his left cheek. What had he done to make her so angry? Natsu had no idea but he didn't like how she hadn't talked to him about it. She decided instead to just resort to violence. He didn't know why, but that made him outraged.

"What the hell Lucy!?" He shouted. Causing her flinch a little. That made him feel guilty and cooled him down a little bit, but not enough to let her off the hook. "Why did you do that!?"

"That was nothing compared to the pain you made me feel every day for a whole year!" She yelled back, making Natsu pause. What had she meant by that?

"Luce?" He said. He had caused her pain? He never wanted to hurt her. He only wanted to clear his mind after Igneel died. He thought she would surely understand.

She didn't stop yelling though. She has been holding this in for an entire year and now she finally had the chance to let it out.

"You left me! With only a _note_ to tell me you were leaving!" She shouted clutching at her chest. The place where her heart where used to be. "I was alone! I had no one left. The only thing that kept me sane were my spirits!" She was sobbing by now. All the tears she had built up over the year finally coming out. All the pain and suffering she had to endure was breaking her in front of the very man that had handed her the pain.

"You left." She repeated over and over causing Natsu's heart to break. He had protected her from so many enemies over the years only to have him be the one that hurt her the most.

He reached out to her. His fingers skimmed her arm before she roughly jerked away.

"Don't touch me!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "You lost that privilege the moment you left! You're not the Natsu I know! You are _not_ my best friend!" When she uttered the last another sob racked through her body.

"Then what am I Luce?" Natsu questioned. He tried to keep on a strong façade. He didn't want her to see him cry. There were too many tears in the room at the moment.

"A stranger! You're not any one that I know!" She said spitting out the last word. She was glaring at him now, getting angrier every second. It took all of the strength she had left to not slap him again.

"Lucy! I am the _same_ person! Especially when it comes to you! And you did have people left with you! In case you haven't noticed, I left the entirety of Fairy Tail behind too!" Natsu yelled, getting defensive all of the sudden.

"Fairy Tail disbanded soon after you left! I _have_ been alone! Don't try to downplay my pain!" Lucy screamed not feeling the least bit sympathetic at telling him the truth. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't a member of Fairy Tail anymore. Fairy Tail members didn't leave family behind like that.

"WHAT!?" Natsu shouted, loud enough to be heard about a mile away. "WHO LET THAT HAPPEN!?" It was clear to anyone that Natsu was enraged that Fairy Tail disbanded. Much less why no one told him.

"You have no right to be angry! You weren't there! You didn't have to feel the despair of watching everyone leave until it was just you! Fairy Tail just a distant memory." Lucy whispered that last part as though not shouting it would make it less realistic.

"But I am still a member of Fairy Tail! They are all still my Family! Did you guys at least keep in touch?" Natsu didn't think he could bear it if everyone just forgot each other. Not even keeping in touch. In the back of his mind he registered that Happy was no longer in the room. He figured he would tell him later. He was too preoccupied with the blonde celestial mage in front of him.

"No you're not! All of the Fairy Tail members were there that day! When master said he was disbanding the guild, they all felt the same pain I did. Everyone was comforting each other! Wendy, Erza, Gray, and Juvia. We were all there for each other! Everyone holding each other and giving each other teary eyed goodbyes. We haven't seen each other in a year, but we all know somewhere in the back of our minds that we will always care for each other. We all also knew that you _weren't_ think about _us._ We all knew that the moment you left without saying goodbye was the moment you gave up on us, on _me_!" Lucy yelled before shutting her eyes, sighing, and shaking her head. "Goodbye Natsu." She said eerily calm before walking out of her door. Natsu watching her back as she walked out of his life.

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 **Oh my gosh. I was almost crying as I wrote this chapter. This was so sad. I don't like seeing them fight, much less writing it. It's okay though. They'll make up eventually. Lucy and Natsu can't stay apart forever.**

 **Thank you for reviewing:**

 _ **Craycraynalufan**_

 _ **FairyTail96**_

 _ **ToastedWeirdBrain**_

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 _ **MarSofTheGalaxies**_

 **You guys are amazing! Thank You!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

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As Lucy walked down the streets of Crocus, she felt tears brimming her eyes. She wanted to welcome Natsu back with open arms. She couldn't though. He left her. She understood that he just lost Igneel, but she just lost Aquarius. Nobody even knew of her loss. No one could help her. Everyone wanted to help Natsu though. He had so many different shoulders to cry on, but he chose to ignore it. He chose to just abandon them. Well, he can't expect to come back to open arms after all of that. Even if he was once a member of Fairy Tail.

"Lucy!" She heard a familiar voice call out to her. She looked to her right and found a market salesmen looking at her with a smile. She always came to this shop when she was sad. She even came here subconsciously a few times, as she did now.

"Hello sir!" Lucy plastered on a fake smile and waved going up to the stout man. He was the owner of the bookshop. He ran it along with his wife. A beautiful woman with golden hair almost as golden as Lucy's. She always had a kind smile on her face and allowed Lucy to pour her heart out on more than a few occasions. This woman always reminded Lucy of her own mother.

"We just got a new shipment of books would you like to look at them darling?" Asked the man. He gestured behind him to the magnificent bookshop titled 'Eclipse'. Lucy always though it funny that this city held so many horrible memories of the eclipse cannon, but this store was her favorite places in the entirety of Crocus.

"I would love to sir!" Responded Lucy, heading into the bookshop leaving behind the memory of Natsu the she could hold off for a few hours until she left the shop. Until then though, Lucy had a date with a nice long book.

Unbeknownst to Lucy though, she also left behind an ominous glare headed in her direction.

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As Lucy waved at the old man and his wife, she headed out of the bookshop. It was a cold night, but that didn't surprise her as it was fall in Crocus currently. It was also rather late at night. Lucy didn't have a watch on her, nor was there a clock in the bookstore but she guessed it to be around 10 PM. She tightened her coat around her and started to cross the street. Only to be stopped though by a rough tug at her sleeve. The tug made her stumble a bit, causing her to land into unfamiliar set of arms. They were rough and hard. Lucy felt a calloused pair of hands run up and down her cheek, making her shiver in an unpleasant way.

She tried to scream, but it was too late. The hands already found their way over Lucy's mouth. When plan A didn't work, Lucy resorted to kicking and flailing her arms around.

"You're a feisty one aren't ya?" Whispered a cold malicious voice in her ear. It chilled her to the bone. Was this really happening to her? What was she going to do!? She tried to reach for her keys but the man got to them first. Throwing them into the street and pulling her into an alley.

"Calm down and maybe I won't be so rough, eh?" Said the man. Lucy got a good look of him now. He was muscular, but not body-builder type muscular. He had short dark brown hair that went down to his eyebrows only. Then Lucy looked into his eyes. They were cold and dark. Almost pitch black. They had so much ice and lust in them that Lucy couldn't even begin to imagine what had happened in this man's life up to this point. While she was transfixed on the man's eyes, she realized that he already had her coat off of her and was working on her shirt.

She began flailing wildly again, trying to kick the man off of her but to no avail.

"Don't make me get violent." He said in a low voice, throwing a well placed punch into Lucy's stomach, making her stop tossing her limbs around and just...lay there. Tears rolling down her eyes.

"Good girl." The man whispered in her ear before unbuckling her skirt belt.

* * *

Somewhere over a mile away, Natsu had a sinking feeling in his stomach. One he only got when one of his nakama were in danger. That was weird the only nakama he had around right now was...

"Luce." Natsu whispered. Jumping off the couch and flying through the window successfully breaking it into pieces. "I'm coming."

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 **I'M SORRY DON'T KILL ME! It was important to the development of the story! I promise! Natsu's spidey senses are tingling though. Or maybe Dragon senses? Either way, here is the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed it very much, I know I didn't have so much fun writing a certain scene.**

 **Anyway! Most of you guys wanted to see some arcs done, and frankly, I kinda wanna do some. So if you guys have any suggestions to which ones you want to see tell me! I will probably put it in a sequel to this story. Love you guys!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

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As Lucy was thrashing around wildly, she realized she had another option. Even though her attacker was on top of her, she could still move her legs semi-freely. Following that train of thought, Lucy didn't hesitate to bring her knee up and connect it with the guy's groin. This sent him reeling back enough for Lucy to escape out from under him and head towards the street.

She probably should've run, but this guy had hurt her pride, so she was just returning the favor. She grabbed her keys and immediately reached for her most trusted spirit.

"Open! Gate of the lion! Leo!" Lucy cried out, and in a flash of light the lion spirit showed up, cracking his knuckles. He probably would've showed up before Lucy had even known the creep was watching, but considering how much he had done that lately, the spirit king revoked his privileges. I bet he was regretting that decision right about now.

"Want me to take care of this man, princess?" Loke asked. He had always been one to be fiercely protective, so it no doubt killed him to watch Lucy from the stars, not being able to do anything to help her.

"Give him hell. Let me assist you, though," She said with a smirk holding Loke's key up to her chest saying, "Star dress! Leo form!" Instantly, her clothes transformed into a dress split up to the thigh, its golden accents billowing in the wind in deep contrast to the black color of the dress. She lifted her fist and grinned over it to the man across the way looking at her with terror-filled eyes.

"Ladies first," Loke said looking over at Lucy with rage in his eyes. It was evident that Loke just wanted to beat this man to a bloody pulp, but being the gentleman he is, offered Lucy first hit because, after all, she was the one who went through more of an attack than he.

Lucy lunged at the man with lit up fists, fully planning on using Regulus Impact. But instead of the sound and feel of flesh hitting flesh, she only felt something burning her hand. She looked down to see flames licking at her hand. It was clear that these flames had no intention of stopping soon.

Lucy looked up, stunned, at the man before her. It was his turn to smirk. He held two balls of fire in each hand. The fire not seeming to burn him in any way, shape, or form. It hit Lucy then that not only was this guy a wizard, but he was a _fire_ wizard. She was in for one hell of a battle.

It was Loke's turn to strike now, though not getting very far before the unnamed man shot a beam of sorts as Loke. The beam, of course, was made of fire. But this fire had black licking at the edges. It kind of reminded Lucy of Natsu's fire.

The fire missed Loke by a hair, but still made Loke worried. He was incredibly fast and skilled, but even he had a bad feeling about this battle for some reason. As Loke lunged again, he realized that the man had shot out another beam of fire. This one, unfortunately, hit Loke square in the chest, effectively sending him back to the celestial spirit world.

Lucy was terrified of the man standing in front her. If he had beaten her most powerful spirit, how could she stand up to him? She could summon another spirit, but that would drain her magic power, and inevitably lead to the spirit getting hurt. A tear rolled down her face as the man got ready to send yet another fire beam in her direction.

She narrowed her eyes and jumped out of the way of the fire. She had decided to fight until her last breath, like a true Fairy Tail wizard. She lunged once again, though she knew this was a battle already lost.

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A few minutes later Lucy found herself lying on the ground, fighting for breath as the mysterious man hovered over her.

"Oh, sweetheart," He said tracing his hand down Lucy's jaw and making her shiver unpleasantly. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that if you mess with fire, you get burned?"

He then stepped back to get a good range to fire at Lucy. He spewed fire out of his hands and just as Lucy thought it was over she heard a sound in front of her; it sounded almost like slurping. She looked up and saw her former best friend eating her attacker's fire.

"Unfortunately for you, it seems you've played with _a_ _lot_ of fire. So, prepare to get burned." The pinkette said growling at the man. Lighting his own fists up with fire, he charged at the man, glancing behind his shoulder once to make sure Lucy was okay.

"Natsu..." Lucy whispered, a small smile gracing her beautiful face.

* * *

 **Hmm, what do you guys think? How do you think this fight is going to end. Natsu can beat almost any competitor, but this guy seems pretty serious. Any way I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! I loved writing it! Just to let you beautiful people know though, I uploaded a one-shot if you wanted to check it out. You can find it on my profile. It's called 'Help Me'. I really like it! Since I uploaded this chapter a little late, I will write another one tomorrow for you wonderful people! Have a beautiful day!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

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Natsu was trembling as he spat his own blood out of his mouth. Wiping away the excess blood with one swift swipe of his sleeve. This guy was no joke. He gave Natsu a run for his money without even breaking a sweat. He got a couple good hits on Natsu. Of course, Natsu payed him back with a few of his own as well. Natsu was amazed that this joke of a guy could even hurt him. He had only one other encounter where he was hurt by fire. Excluding his own of course.

"Not too shabby kid." The man said cockily. The smug grin on his face made Natsu want to charge at him and pummel him so he couldn't stand. If Natsu thought he was enraged when the fight began, that was nothing to what he was about to feel.

As Natsu tried to calm himself with a deep breath, he smelt something that made him see red. His eyes turned to slits as he focused on the low-life in front of him. He lunged for the man once again. Expertly dodging all his attacks until he was right in front of him and beating him to the ground.

"Why is your scent all over Lucy!?" He questioned furiously. while almost beating the poor man to death. Not even bothering to light up his fists. It was the man's turn to cough up blood as Lucy started to panic and raced towards Natsu and the unknown man.

"Natsu! Natsu stop it!" Lucy yelled, trying in vain to get Natsu off the man underneath him. "You're not a murderer! Did that too change while you were gone!?" She cried tears suddenly springing up in her eyes. As soon as Natsu smelt the salt water he stopped, getting off the man and turning around to encase Lucy in his arms, letting her cry it out. While Lucy cried into his shoulder, he glared at the man and his futile attempt to stand up and fight him again. He sure as hell wouldn't be able to fight Natsu again even if he somehow managed to stand on his own two legs.

"N-Natsu." Whimpered Lucy. Natsu looked down at Lucy and saw her looking up at him. He felt rage once again build up inside him as he looked into Lucy's broken eyes. No longer the bright chocolate eyes he remembered, not even close. He was looking down at an unfamiliar girl with dead mud brown eyes.

"Yeah Luce?" Asked Natsu, trying to be as compassionate as he could possibly manage. While if was difficult to softly stroke Lucy's hair as he was as angry as a bull on the inside, he managed. He could always manage to do something if it was for Lucy.

"Thank you." She mumbled. It was obvious that she was exhausted. Physically and emotionally. She had every right to be as well. Natsu couldn't help the blinding grin that made his way onto his face then though. He thought he was finally getting somewhere with Lucy. This was the first step to becoming best friends again. His grin faded though when Lucy uttered her last words before she went to sleep. "This doesn't mean I forgive you though. It just means that some of the old Natsu is back again."

Natsu was still frowning at the blonde celestial mage when he felt a sharp blow in the back of his head. He whirled around to find, to his amazement, the same guy he was fighting just minutes ago up onto his feet and holding fire in his hands again. Natsu couldn't find any sight of the injuries he had caused him earlier when he did a quick once over of his enemy.

Natsu just smiled widely and lit up his entire body. While he felt bad that Lucy was knocked out for the moment, now she couldn't hold him back and he could give this felon-that was now staring right back and smiling just as much as Natsu was-pure and unadulterated hell.

"Get ready, because hell getting frozen over is going to look calm when I'm through with you." Natsu said extending the flames that captured his body, but aware of his magic power,

"Get ready, because when I'm through with _you_ , freezing hell is going to look easy." replied the big man across from Natsu, not even showing any signs that he even noticed Natsu's flames.

Then it began.

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 **I really had fun writing this chapter! This is a little present to say I'm sorry for being late with the last chapter. That is why this is up so early. Place your bets now on who you think is going to win. As if that would be a hard guess. But, you never know. I could throw you guys a curve ball at any moment. ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

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The sound of their fist colliding echoed throughout the town. The echo effiectively confusing everyone within its range. They've been fighting for over a half hour now. Neither of them wanting to give up the fight. Neither were losing and neither was winning. It was a pretty even match. Natsu had cuts and bruises all over his body. His breathing was ragged and in short bursts. It was clear to anyone that he would need some serious medical care after this battle.

The man Natsu was fighting-who Natsu named Daniel for the time being-was a doing a little better than Natsu. Daniel had less cuts and bruises, and had heavy breathing but nothing too serious. He had amazing fighting skill that rivaled Natsu's but his attitude was anything but like Natsu's. He was cocky, arrogant, and really enjoying the fight.

Natsu punched Daniel on the left side of his jaw. This swing sent Daniel staggering back a bit, but he still had the smirk on his face. When he looked up to find that Natsu was struggling to stand he barked out a laugh. Daniel went up to Natsu and punched him in the stomach. Making Natsu sink to the ground.

"Looks like your all out of fight kid. Time to finish you for good and take your blonde friend back to my boss. That was my plan all along you know. I just wanted to have fun with her before I took her." Said Daniel, gaze flickering to a knocked out Lucy behind Natsu.

"Huh?" Natsu grunted out. This guy wanted to kidnap Lucy? That gave Natsu even more of a reason to take this man down

Natsu lit up his fists once again and pushed Daniel off of him and a good two feet away. Natsu was almost out of magical power, but he'd be dammed if he let this guy beat him and take _his_ Lucy. He had to beat this guy. He did things to Lucy that made Natsu's want to throw up.

Nobody got to touch Lucy like that. She was, and will always be, his.

"You will _never_ beat me. You won't take Lucy away from me! Not after I just got her back!" Yelled Natsu, charging in to hit Daniel once more.

Daniel just blocked his attack though. Putting out one hand to stop Natsu's fist from coming in to contact with his face. He moved Natsu's fist and smiled a horrible, stomach churning smile.

"I already beat you kid." Said Daniel before placing a punch to Natsu's head sending him flying back a couple of feet before landing harshly on the ground.

Daniel went up to Natsu and placed his boot on Natsu's head. Applying pressure briefly before stepping off, and kneeling down to be eye level with Natsu.

"I told you. I won, and you lost." Said Daniel before spitting in Natsu's face and heading over to were Lucy was lying on the ground. Oblivious to everything around her. Unaware that the man she thought would never lose a fight for her sake, just lost.

As Daniel picked up Lucy and threw her carelessly over his shoulder, he was stopped by a scream so loud and intense that it briefly deafened him. He turned to face Natsu, and saw that he still had his eyes closed and mouth opened. Daniel threw Lucy back on the ground before heading over to were Natsu lay.

"What was that for!? What did you do!?" Screamed Daniel frantically. It killed him to not know. What if it was another attack that didn't occur yet?

Daniel shook it off after a couple of minutes of getting no answers from Natsu though. Going back to Lucy. Figuring that the pain he inflicted on Natsu just caught up to him and became too much. He lost his thought though when he experienced a stabbing pain going through his side. He toppled over and was met with the ground as he looked and saw two new opponents looking down at his with disgust.

Daniel looked over at Natsu to find that he had a smirk on his face. Daniel realized that this was what Natsu was doing when he screamed.

Natsu looked over at his two friends towering over Daniel. "Sting. Rouge. Give him hell for me." Was the last thing Natsu uttered before the world around him went dark and cold.

Sting looked over at Natsu lying on the ground before looking over at Lucy. "Believe me Natsu. We will. " Said Sting before he nodded to Rouge and attacked.

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 **I am SO SO sorry that this chapter took so long! My internet was being stupid, but I got It now. I won't be late with the next chapter I promise! I hope this chapter was worth the wait though. Sting and Rouge showed up! The guy beat Natsu though. Shocker.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

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"WHITE DRAGON ROAR!"

"SHADOW DRAGON ROAR!"

Sting and Rouge were both sweating. They should've known that this guy would be tough because he beat Natsu even after he trained for a year. But still, he wasn't even breaking a sweat.

The attack seemed to bounce off of the man. They were starting to question if he was even human. No ordinary man could be this powerful.

"Who is this man?" Questioned Sting as he looked over at Rouge. Rouge just shrugged and turned his attention back to their opponent. They couldn't risk taking their eyes off of him for a second.

"I think it's time," Rouge said under his breath, "for the twin dragons ultimate power." Sting nodded grimly before dodging an attack from the man and walking over to Rouge.

"This better work. Or else we're screwed" Sting said to Rouge as they joined hands and transferred all of their magic power in one spot. Sting wasn't sure a Unison Raid _would_ work. Natsu beat them during the Grand Magic Games even after they did a Unison Raid, and he's gotten a lot stronger since then. Then again, so have they.

Their magical power formed into a ball slowly. They built it up until it was big enough to form the biggest attack they have ever done. They flung it towards their opponent in hopes that this would finally beat him. They both fell down to their knees as the last of their magical power drained. If this attack didn't do this guy in, he would have beaten three dragon slayers without even trying.

When Sting and Rouge hit the cold hard ground they looked up to find fire around the guy in a kind of bubble. It wasn't their fire though, the fire that was around him looked like a shield. It was when the fire disappeared that the guy went over to the twin dragon slayers and laughed at them.

He laughed at them for awhile. A deep belly laugh that appeared way more evil than it was.

"I thought Dragon Slayers had the strongest magic ever. Guess not." The man said while looking down upon them. "Now, if you don't mind, I think I'm finally going to take your blonde beauty over there."

Sting looked over at Lucy and saw that she was actually sitting up. He was immediately alarmed for his friend. She looked like she was in a lot of pain. It was weird though, she had her eyes closed and she was mumbling something under her breath. He was perplexed for a moment when he realized that he saw this before, but couldn't figure out where. When it hit him, he mustered up all of his strength to grab Rouge and move him out of the way. He was just in time when somewhere from behind him he heard Lucy's voice shouting, "Urano Metria!" and hundred of explosions where the man was standing.

He looked back when the explosions were done to find the man with a shocked face before he collapsed onto the ground. Lucy was hunched over on the ground breathing heavily. Her breaths were coming out in short gasps and were ragged. Sting realized he needed to get Lucy to a medic fast before she died from magic exertion.

Rouge and Sting got up from the ground and hurried over to Lucy. They were unsteady but they were in good enough shape to carry Lucy to the guild hall. They could have someone come back for Natsu later as he wasn't in any immediate danger.

Lucy heard whispers of "You're going to be okay" and "It's fine" as she succumbed to the darkness. Her only worry was if she was ever going to be able to see the pink haired goofball laying on the ground again.

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 **What do you guys think!? I think Lucy is one very cool woman. Power to her. I might upload two chapters today of this story and one of 'Your Promise' because I'm bored and have nothing to do with my life! Thank you for putting up with me and my ever-changing schedule. Love you guys!**


	9. Chapter 9

I **DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

* * *

As her eyes fluttered open she was blinded by the white light for a second. When she sat up, it took her a minute to realize just where she was and what happened to her. She had been here, in the Sabertooth guild hall, a couple of times before to see Yukino and talk about training their celestial spirits. She was in the hospital wing in the guild hall. Her ears perked up when she heard faint shouting in the distance.

"Where is she!?" She heard a male voice shouting at who she assumed to be Sting.

"She's resting! You can't go up in the hospital wing!" Yelled the guild master. Lucy heard knocking at the door not a few seconds later.

"Come in!" She yelled hoarsely to the person on the other side of the door.

Natsu peeked his salmon head inside the door and stared at Lucy for a second before bursting the door open and running towards Lucy. He wrapped his arms around Lucy and squeezed her tight.

After a couple of seconds, she reluctantly wrapped her arms around him as well. It felt like they had stayed in that position forever. Him with his arms wrapped around her, and she with her head in the crook of his neck. She breathed deeply, etching his scent into her mind, before she exhaled and unwrapped her arms. She leaned back into her pillow and stared at Natsu while he stared back at her his hands limply at his sides.

He got up off of the bed and sat onto the chair next to the bed, scratching his head awkwardly and smiling sheepishly at Lucy.

"So, how are you?" He asked hesitantly his onyx eyes burning into her chocolate brown ones.

"I'm okay. Feeling a lot better than I was earlier. That's for sure." She said staring back at his with the same intensity. "By the way, how long have I been knocked out?"

"Um, about three days?" He responded dropping his smile and getting serious before adding, "I'm so sorry."

Lucy was startled by these words. "For what!?"

"For leaving, for not being able to protect you, for-for everything!" He exclaimed, tears springing up in his eyes.

Lucy had never seen Natsu cry before, so she was startled and didn't know what to do when she saw him. She slowly got out of the bed and leaned in front of Natsu.

"It's fine. I forgive you. You're my best friend. Always will be." She whispered as she stood back up and sat on his lap. She buried her face into his hair and kissed the top of his head.

He wrapped his arms around her waist as he pulled her in closer. "You're my best friend too," He said, "And I love you." He said as he pulled back and stared into her eyes, his burning with sincerity.

She gasped loudly when she looked into his eyes and found that what he was saying was the complete and utter truth. Her face lit up with a smile as she closed her eyes and muttered, "I love you too."

Natsu smile his signature grin as he shut his own eyes and closed the distance between their lips.

* * *

 **There we go! They made up and they kissed! I hope this chapter was well worth the wait and I hope to write a lot more in the net ten days because I'm on thanksgiving break! I'm thankful for all of you guys, and I hope you're as excited as me for the next chapters.**


	10. Chapter 10

I **DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

* * *

"Alright, you ready Luce?" Natsu questioned from the other side of the meadow.

"Ready Natsu!" Lucy responded with a smirk on her face while grabbing for her keys.

"Okay! Go!" Natsu shouted from his spot across from Lucy. He lunged for her with his attack ready, while Lucy did the same towards him. He recalled only a couple of hours ago when she challenged him.

* * *

 _2 hours ago_

There was a knock on the door and they both bolted upright. They had been getting caught up. Now that Lucy was actually talking to Natsu, he decided he wanted to know everything that happened to her over the year that he'd been gone.

"Come in!" Shouted Lucy to whomever was on the other side of the door.

Sting slowly peeked his head in and cleared his throat. He came into the room fully and closed the door behind him.

"I just wanted to let you know that you guys can stay here as long as you want, no strings attached, and you guys took quite the beating, so you're welcome to bother our nurse staff whenever you seem fit." Sting said smiling. He sighed and soon that smile turned into a smirk as his eyes zoned in on Natsu.

"What!?" Natsu said angrily. He didn't like that look on Sting's face.

"Smells like you two have been getting friendly again," Sting said enraging Natsu more and making a delicate blush dust over Lucy's cheeks, "Your scent is all over her."

Natsu slung an arm around Lucy's shoulders and growled at Sting. "That's none of your business Sting!" Sting's hands raised up as a sign of surrender as he chuckled at Natsu.

As Sting started to head out of the door, he seemed to remember something and turned back around to say to Lucy, "Hey, Yukino wanted to know if you wanted to train out in the meadow tomorrow. She has a lot of stuff to do today, otherwise she would've asked herself."

"Um, sure, tell her I'm game. I'll be out in the meadow around 4 tomorrow if she wants to meet up then." Sting nodded to Lucy and walked out of the room submerging Natsu and Lucy in silence.

Natsu turned to Lucy and said, "So anyway, what happened after you got the reporter job?" He laid down on his side and propped his head up on his hand as he asked this question.

Lucy got a weird look in her eyes all of the sudden as she turned to Natsu and said, "Hey, you know how you've gotten crazy strong over the last year?"

"Well, not to brag or anything but-"

Lucy stopped him before he could go on ranting and continued her thought. "Well, I've gotten a lot stronger too. Why don't we head out to the meadow and let me prove it to you."

"Uh, I don't know Lucy. I don't want to hurt you or anything." Natsu said rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"So you think I'm too weak. Is that it?" Lucy said playing her cards just right.

"No! No that's not at all what I think."

"Then you're scared then. It's either one or the other."

"Fine!" Natsu said upset. "We can go, but don't expect me to use my full strength!"

* * *

 _Present time_

Lucy called out Leo while Natsu lit up his fists. Natsu went straight for the spirit, but Lucy wrapped her whip around his ankle and smacked him into a tree before he could even get close to Loke.

"Star Dress! Leo form!" Lucy shouted. Natsu was shocked when he saw Lucy's skirt and tank top switch to an elegant back dress. When he thought this was surprising he was even more shocked when he saw her hands light up with the same magic Loke used.

"Whoa Lucy!" Natsu said getting excited and in to the fight.

Natsu got back onto his feet again and charged at Lucy once more only to be stopped by Loke using Regulus Impact on him. He fell forward because Loke hit him on the back and landed right at the feet of Lucy.

"What do you think?" Lucy asked while slinging her whip behind her shoulder. She sent Loke back to the spirit world while Natsu was too preoccupied with his aching head to respond to Lucy's question.

While Lucy had her back turned to Natsu, he smiled and crawled towards Lucy to pull on her ankle and have her fall down on top of him.

"I think you should make sure your enemy is down before you turn your back." He said while kissing her cheek. They were both laughing when Natsu looked over and noticed that Lucy's key ring seemed to have fallen off of her belt and landed on the ground right next to Natsu's head.

He reached over to grab it when he noticed something very peculiar. When he questioned Lucy about it, all life seemed to drain from her face. "Hey Lucy, where's Aquarius's key?"


	11. Chapter 11

I **DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

* * *

"I tried to stop her. I tried to stop her."

Lucy had been whispering that phrase for about five minutes. All Natsu could do was hold her in a comforting embrace and use his thumbs to wipe away her fallen tears. He's tried to talk to her multiple times but never got any far because Lucy would just break into a whole new set of tears. It broke _him_ to see how broken she was. He couldn't do anything about it, and it hurt him. So, he just held her. He wanted her to believe that everything was okay. That _she_ was okay. It stayed like that for about half an hour until the tear subsided and they could talk.

After a few moments of silence Natsu pulled back out of their embrace and asked, "Are you okay?"

She glared at him a little before sighing and saying, "What do you think?"

"I think that you're broken, and you need someone to put you back together," He said with fiercely burning sincerity in his eyes. "I can do that for you."

Natsu looked into Lucy's unreadable orbs before pulling her into his embrace once more. His arms were somewhat magical. Whenever Lucy was encircled in them she always felt a burning warmth, but not on her skin, in her soul. Lucy always believed in 'the one' because of the fairy tales her mother used to read to her, and sitting here in Natsu's arms, she realized she had found hers.

Lucy looked up at Natsu once again and whispered, "Okay, put me back together."

He looked down at her and whispered back, "You have to give me the last pieces of the puzzle before I can finish the picture."

She sighed before launching into the story she swore never to tell anyone. The tale was full of heartache and tears, and she didn't believe she could finish it, but every time she stopped, Natsu reminded her that he was here for her and wasn't going anywhere. She'd smile at him, and then start up again. After what seemed like forever, Lucy was finished telling the story and had dried tear marks on her cheeks.

They sat there for a while. Neither one talking, neither one feeling.

"Thanks." Natsu said while looking at nothing. "I can put you back together now."

"Hopefully you're up for the challenge. It's going to be rough." Said Lucy, and for the first time in awhile, she thought that maybe the road ahead wouldn't be that bumpy after all.

* * *

 **I like physically hurt. That was a short chapter, but I hope it was worth it. I am now a certified beta-reader! If any of you have any stories you would like beta-read by me I would happily assist you in making one amazing story.**


	12. Chapter 12

I **DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

* * *

"Sting, why did you call this guild meeting so suddenly!?"

"I had things to do!"

"I have a schedule y'know!"

Sting had been listening to these complaints and shouts for around thirty minutes. He would've responded to some of these complaints, only he didn't know why there was a guild meeting so suddenly. Natsu had come bursting through his door telling Sting that he had to talk to the guild about something. Sting had agreed to call the meeting as long as it didn't take long, to which Natsu promised that it wouldn't.

"Natsu, where are you?" Sting growled under his breath, and not a minute later he felt a hand on his shoulder, playfully shoving him.

"Calm down, I'm here. I'm just fashionably late." Sting looked over his shoulder to see a grinning Natsu. Sting growled at him.

"Just start the meeting already." Sting groaned before sitting down in the chair next to Rouge and allowing Natsu to take take the attention.

"Hey guys!" Natsu started with a grin, "I have a problem, and I need some help. I would deal with it myself, but I'm not strong enough for this one."

This last sentence captured the attention of everyone in the room. Natsu was stubborn, so it was surprising he even asked for help, but he wasn't _strong_ enough? Even before Natsu left for a year to train, he had been one of the most powerful mages in a guild.

Natsu turned to Sting then and said, "It's about the guy we fought not to long ago."

Sting's eyes immediately darkened, and he nodded once.

"Okay, so the strongest fighters in the guild, you will go with Sting and get debriefed on the power we will be fighting. The not-so-strong ones will come with me and get a special job that doesn't include much fighting." The guild split up pretty evenly, though the majority of the guild went with Sting.

When Lucy tried to go with Natsu's side though, he stopped her and told her to go over to Sting's side. When she started to protest, he reminded her that she defeated the guy when three Dragon Slayers couldn't. She reluctantly went to Sting's side and listened to what he had to say.

When everyone Natsu was supposed to be talking to gathered around him he started. "Okay, so, while you guys have _very_ strong fighters in your guild, i'm not sure it'll be enough. So, you guys will search for the strongest people I know. We need them. One of them has the equivalent power to your entire guild."

Once Natsu was sure he had gotten everyone's attention, he finished his thought by saying to his little search team, "I need you guys to find Fairy Tail."

* * *

 **That is a wrap! I'm super excited for the next chapters! Place your bets on who is going to be found first!**


	13. Chapter 13

I **DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

* * *

Whispers erupted from both sides of the guild hall. Natsu could make out what most people were saying because of his dragon-hearing. Most of the comments on Sting's side were surprised and hyped. Natsu's side held the curious and wary whispers. The whispers eventually died down, and the guild hall became deafeningly silent. Everyone was absorbed into their own thoughts.

One person on Natsu's side eventually spoke up after what felt like an eternity. "Where are we going to find them? Where are we going to begin even looking?"

Natsu looked at the man who spoke up. after staring at the man for a second he said, "Start by visiting the guild halls in Fiore. I know you guys think that this is somewhat impossible, but it's not, I assure you. Look in well known guilds first. I won't be traveling with you though. I'm going to be coming up with a plan for the attacker."

"When are we to leave?" Another one in Natsu's group asked.

"You leave tomorrow. Split into groups, and gather supplies today. I expect you all to be back from your scouting journey in two weeks though." Natsu said over his shoulder while walking over to stand next to Sting. He looked back to see his group looking dumbfounded before quickly getting up, and walking out of the guild.

"Powerful. Don't underestimate him." Natsu heard sting say as he tuned in to their conversation. Sting had a very professional-like face on. He was deathly serious and everyone in the guild could see it.

Natsu looked over at Lucy as Sting continued talking. She was sitting in the back of the table that had been laid out with her head down. Her blonde hair was cascading over her shoulders, which made it hard for Natsu to see her face, but he could tell she had tears in her eyes. Evidently, Yukino had noticed as well, because she was rubbing soothing circles in to Lucy's back as she listened intently to Sting.

Natsu had almost forgotten what this man had done to Lucy. He had been too occupied with the fact that she was physically safe and sound now, that he neglected to remember that she was in serious pain mentally. He walked towards the back of the table slowly. When he got there, he gently grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled on it. She looked up at him, and Natsu jerked his head towards the stairs that weren't that far away from them.

Lucy nodded and got out of her chair, careful not to make any noise as to disrupt Sting, and followed Natsu up the stairs. Once Natsu had picked a room to drag her in, he closed the door behind them and wrapped Lucy in a warm and comforting embrace.

"I'm sorry." Natsu whispered after a couple of moments.

Lucy was completely baffled by this, but composed herself quickly and asked, "For what Natsu?"

Lucy had her hand placed on the side of Natsu's face, and he leaned into it, closing his eyes before responding, "I couldn't protect you."

"What do you mean? If you hadn't shown up when you had, then I would be dead right now." Said Lucy adding her other hand on the opposite side of Natsu's face.

"I meant mentally. You're going to have _those_ scars for an eternity. I can't reverse what he did to you, even though I would so desperately want to." Lucy swore she had saw a small tear roll down the side of Natsu's face, but after she blinked it was gone, and she thought she had just imagined it.

Natsu took a deep, shuddering breath, and backed away from Lucy. He walked quickly towards the nearest window in the room and opened it. He looked back at Lucy once more. She was standing there, face devoid of all emotion, like a statue on display in a museum.

He whispered, "I'm sorry." Once more before he lithely jumped out of the window and into the cool night air. Leaving Lucy behind to shatter right there on the floor. Her one true love leaving her once more.

* * *

I kinda got Twilight vibes while I was writing this. I also kinda thought this was a giant cliche. A guy leaving his true love to 'protect' her. PA-LEASE. Alas though, do you think that Natsu will come back? And if he does, when? Those _are_ the questions. Also, OMG we reached 100 follows! I love you guys so much, honestly. We are also coming up on 100 reviews. Hmm, maybe I'll do something special in the story to celebrate that?


	14. Chapter 14

I **DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

* * *

After about a hour of sobbing Lucy heard a knock on the door. She clutched her legs closer to her chest, and buried her head into her knees so no one could see her face, before croaking out, "Come in!"

Yukino poked her head in to see Lucy cowering in the corner of the room. She made her way over to where Lucy sat before gracefully falling on her knees to be eye level to Lucy.

"What happened?" Yukino asked softly, careful not to startle the blonde celestial mage in front of her.

"He left." Came Lucy's muffled reply. Yukino placed her right hand on Lucy's shoulder, and rubbed soothing circles there. Yukino tried to be calm and compassionate on the outside, while on the inside she was a raging inferno. After everything this girl has been through, all the pain and suffering, most of it by Natsu, he just up and left her? What kind of person who claimed to love her would do something like that?

Yukino took a deep and calming breath before standing up. She grabbed Lucy's hand softly but firmly, and tugged her up. Her gentle fingers wiping away any signs that tears had fallen off of Lucy's beautiful face.

"Come on, let's go get you cleaned up." Yukino whispered, leading Lucy out of the dark room filled with bad memories.

* * *

A couple of hours later, and Lucy was laying asleep in a bed somewhere in the guild hall with dried tear marks on her cheeks. Yukino meanwhile, while having a very serious conversation with the Dragon Slayers of Sabertooth.

"You need to find him! He can't keep hurting her like this!" Yukino was saying urgently to the twin dragons.

"It's his decision. We can't just barge in like that." Sting said with his arms crossed over his chest. Rouge, who was to his left, nodded in agreement.

"So you don't care that she is shattering slowly? Do you not understand how much this is killing your friend?" Yukino shouted, but not loud enough to wake Lucy, who was above them on the second floor.

"Of course we care, but like I told you, we can't bar-" Sting was suddenly cut off when there were terrible screams coming from above them. They rushed up the stairs, and located the sound of the screaming, which just so happened to be coming from the room Lucy was sleeping in.

They opened the door swiftly to discover Lucy still asleep thrashing around in her bed and screaming. Yukino dashed over to her side while Sting and Rouge were stuck to there spots by the door.

Yukino kept nudging Lucy until she finally stopped screaming and thrashing, and bolted upright in her bed, now wide awake.

"You're okay. It was just a bad dream." Yukino whispered softly before encasing Lucy in her arms.

Lucy's eyes lit up as she wiped the tears that had fallen, off her face. "So, he didn't leave?"

Yukino shot a nasty look in the direction of Sting before trying to explain to Lucy that that part was real.

Sting cleared his throat before saying, with his eyes downcast, "Okay, we'll find him."

* * *

 **You guys have no idea how sorry I am. I would make up thousands excuses if it would make up for the fact that I haven't uploaded a chapter in about a month. All I can do is say that I won't do it again and hope you guys believe me. Anyway, Sting and Rouge are going to find Natsu! Hopefully they will also beat him just a little for leaving Lucy a second time. Also, we haven't seen Happy since like the second chapter, where do you think he might be?**


	15. Chapter 15

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

Sting was sighing softly in his bedroom. He's been packing for the last thirty minutes. He would've been done by now, but he couldn't help thinking about Lucy. She was truly hurt this time. Nastu had a reason last time for leaving, his father had died, and that was understandable. He needed a break, but what was his excuse this time?

A soft knocking came from behind Sting. He looked over his shoulder to see Rouge in his doorway, already packed.

"Are you okay?" Rouge asked, not as perturbed by this as Sting.

"No. Nastu always had a reason for doing something. Most of the time it was to protect his guild mates. This just feels like he's being selfish. This is not the Natsu Dragneel I look up to," Sting said in one breath, relieved to get that off his chest.

"I know," muttered Rouge, "Anyway, are you ready to go knock some sense into him?"

Sting loudly closed his drawers with a sigh, zippered up his bad, and nodded.

They walked out of the room together, talking about the journey ahead.

* * *

Yukino silently watched the pair of Dragon Slayers walk away from the guild. She hoped with all of her heart that they found Natsu, and brought him back to Lucy.

She looked over her shoulder at the sleeping beauty behind her. Lucy had dried tear stains on her cheeks, and had a frown on her face, even in her sleep.

Yukino drew her eyebrows together in wonder, thinking about how Lucy would react when Natsu came back. Would she be relieved or furious?

"Please hurry."

* * *

Natsu walked silently through the forest. He realized not to long ago, that in his hurry to leave, he had forgotten any materials he might need.

His stomach growled ferociously as he walked down the path he was following. He was already regretting his idea to leave so rashly.

What he was not regretting though was his reason for leaving. He had put Lucy through so much pain, even when he vowed to protect her. He realized he may be putting her in pain by leaving, but he figured she would get over it. Lucy would probably be in more pain if he stayed.

Natsu sighed and sat down on a nearby log, ready to sleep as it was getting significantly darker by the minute.

He sat still for a minute or two before finally getting up to find sticks for a fire. He traversed through the forest, careful not to wonder too far off from his decided campsite. He was getting drowsy, and wanted to forget about the day already.

After gathering a sufficient amount of twigs in his arms, he got ready to go back to the log he was sitting on when something distracted him.

"Natsu! Help me!"

"Happy?" Natsu questioned into the breeze. He used his nose, and sure enough, his little buddy's scent was not to far away from him.

Natsu dropped the sticks, and used his nose to travel a little east before running into a huge problem.

"Hello brother, I was wondering when I was going to see you."

* * *

 **And scene! I apologize for the wait on this chapter, but I have a little surprise for you all in the works! We are nearing 100 reviews, and I thank you all so much. I have decided to create another Fairy Tail story that is going to start going up after this one if finished. If we can get 8 reviews on this chapter, boosting us up to 100 reviews, I will give you guys a little sneak peak into the making of the next story! I personally am in love with the idea, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun to write!**

 **Show of hands, how many people kinda hate Natsu right now? Me too, but I promise things will get better for our poor Lucy!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

* * *

Yukino was pacing the floor around Lucy's bed. It had been three days, and still no sign of _any_ of the Dragon Slayer. She was so worried that something had happened. Sting and Rouge should have been able to track Natsu down by now, and they promised that they would use a communication lacrima to contact her when they had found him.

Letting out a huff of worry and irritation, she plopped down on the bed Lucy was sleeping in. Doing this though cause Lucy to become disturbed while sleeping. Lucy began thrashing around under the covers. Yukino sighed gently and went to wake Lucy up. This has been a regular occurrence since Natsu left. Lucy has been having these nightmares that usually resulted in her screaming and kicking in her sleep.

"Wake up, Lucy!" Yukino said loudly while shaking Lucy awake.

With a start, Lucy sprang up out of her bed and stood stock still for a moment. She looked at Yukino, and realization flashed across her face. She gently sat back down on her bed again, and sobbed. The tears flowed freely down her face as she let out all her pain and frustration.

Yukino wrapped her arms around Lucy in a comforting embrace and let her cry. "Don't worry," she said soothingly, "They'll be back soon."

 _I hope_ , Yukino added silently in her head.

* * *

"Dude, where the hell is he!?" Sting shouted to Rogue as they crossed the dreary forest.

"I have no clue, I'm not smelling anything that resembles his scent," Rogue said miserably, dragging his feet across the dirt.

"I miss Lector," Sting said with a frown on his face. Lector and Frosch were part of the team that went to track down the Fairy Tail guild's members.

"I know how you feel," added Rogue as they fell into a comfortable silence.

"Are we even sure we're going the right way?" asked Sting after five minutes of silence.

"We have to be, Natsu's scent went this way, but then it just vanished," Rouge responded.

"Yeah, I know."

"We should probably make a camp for tonight," Rogue suggested, looking up at the dark sky.

"Good idea," Sting said as he took his backpack off his back and set it on a nearby log.

They set to work making a campsite. Sting went off to find firewood as Rogue set up a tent. After about half a hour, they made their camp, and settled down for the night.

"I'm feeling drowsy, I think I'm going to go to sleep for the night," Sting said getting up from the log he was sitting on.

Just then, a gust of wind passed, making them both freeze in their spots.

"Did you smell that?" Sting asked curiously, suddenly wide awake.

"Natsu," Rogue said uncertainly getting up as well. The pair looked at each other for a second before setting off to the origin of the smell.

Since they were running so quickly, it took them a total of two minutes to get to their destination. What they saw froze them in their spots once again.

Sting advanced on what was on the ground, then bent to pick it up.

"Natsu," Sting whispered while staring at the white scarf in his hand.

* * *

Yukino and Lucy were sitting opposite of each other at the dinner table. Yukino was staring silently at Lucy while she was sipping her drink.

"Lucy I-" Yukino started, but was cut off by a loud banging. Startled, Yukino and Lucy quickly got up to find what caused this sound. When they stepped out of the guild hall dining room, Yukino felt a smacking sensation in her chest. She staggered backwards before regaining her composure and looking down at her chest.

"Lector?" Yukino asked, surprised, "I thought you went looking for Fairy tail guild members!"

"I did! Frosch and I looked everywhere and we found all of the people that we could!" Lector responded.

At this, Yukino immediately looked over a Lucy who was still starting at the entrance of the guild hall with wide and teary eyes. Yukino followed her gaze and found what her stare was about.

"Erza, Gray, Juvia, Wendy!" Lucy gasped out before running towards them with open arms.

* * *

 **Team Natsu is back ladies and gentlemen! How exciting! I do apologize for the very long wait between chapters, but I hope this chapter was worth it!**

 **Since we are only four reviews away from number one-hundred, you will get a sneak-peak into my next story, Self-taught, when we reach one-hundred reviews. I am really excited to start posting that story too, I think you guys are really going to love it!**


	17. Chapter 17

**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS! THEY ALL BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA!**

* * *

Lucy inhaled deeply as she stared at all of her friends she hadn't seen in a year. She had been catching up with them for the past hour. She had missed them so much, and she was truly happy for the first time in a week. Tears have been shed during that hour, smiles have been exchanged, and boisterous laughter could've been heard a mile away.

"Hey, Lucy. Where is Natsu? Lector said that he was here with you," Gray said foolishly. He instantly felt guilty when he saw all the color drain from Lucy's pretty face.

"Oh," was all Lucy said before plunging them all in silence.

Her eyes filled with tears that she so badly wanted to shed, but couldn't in the presence of her friends. She instead put on a brave face, and blinked her tears away. Her gaze met Gray's, her eyes filled with something like defiance.

"He left," Lucy said bluntly, her eyes filling with rage.

"Why?" Wendy questioned, looking uncertain. She doubted that Natsu would leave Lucy after just getting her back.

"Because he's a coward," Lucy said, eyes downcast. "He's scared of our relationship. He's scared that he can't protect me."

"Relationship?" Gray asked, choking on his own saliva.

"A lot happened since we met back up."

"Juvia can tell," Juvia said before Gray had a chance to speak up.

Lucy silently glanced over at Erza as she had not said anything since the topic of Natsu was brought up. She look contemplative with her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth in a slight frown. Lucy went to open her mouth to question it, but before she got very far she could hear Gray say, "Hey Erza, penny for your thoughts?"

This seemed to snap Erza out of her reverie a she snapped her glance, which was originally fixed on the floor, to Gray.

"I was just thinking about why Natsu would leave." Erza admitted to no one in particular.

"I told you it was because he's a coward!" Lucy exclaimed angrily.

"Does that really sound like Natsu to you, Lucy?" Erza said kindly.

Lucy didn't reply to that. She knew in her heart that it didn't, but she was so angry at him that she didn't want to admit it.

"I'm sure Natsu had a good reason for leaving," Erza continued when Lucy said nothing.

Lucy felt drained and didn't feel like retaliating so instead changed the topic.

"So, what have you guys been doing the past year?"

* * *

Sting has been pacing for who knows how long, clutching Natsu's lost scarf to his chest. He had no idea what to do. Natsu was lost somewhere, probably in trouble, and he had no idea where to begin even looking. He just had to have faith that Natsu was strong enough.

Sting suddenly screamed in frustration and kicked a nearby tree.

"Calm down, we'll figure something out," Rogue said, staring at Sting.

"What do you suggest we do? Huh?" Sting said hostilely, staring at Rogue.

They were staring at each other for a couple minutes until something small and blue shot through the air, and hit a tree nearby.

"Ow" the little blue creature said, rubbing its head.

"Happy?" Sting questioned, surprised.

"Sting! It's horrible! He has Natsu! He's going to use him! We need to save him! We need to-"

"Woah. Happy, slow down! Who is 'he'?" Sting questioned.

"Zeref."

* * *

Team Natsu's conversation came to an end when they saw Sting, Rogue, and Happy burst through the doors of the guild hall. They all made to greet them, but stopped when they saw the horrified looks on their faces.

"It's Natsu! Zeref has him, you need to help!" Sting said in a panic.

It seemed that everyone's gazes snapped instantly to Lucy's face.

"Natsu," Lucy whispered, a million thought running through her mind.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I** **sincerely apologize for the insane wait between chapters, honestly. I was going through a personal issue. I will update the story every Monday from this point forward, promise.**

 **Anyway, what did you guys think of the chapter? Natsu is going to be saved (maybe). You'll just have to see where the next few chapters take us! I'm really excited for the next chapters.**


	18. Chapter 18

**ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA**

* * *

 _He left me._

 _He left me._

 _He left me._

These three words have been running through Lucy's head at a million miles an hour for the past five minutes. When everyone went to start packing, getting ready to go on a journey to find Natsu, Lucy made a vow to herself. She vowed that no matter what went through her head when she finally saw Natsu again, she wouldn't go running back to him. In just the course of a few short weeks after getting him back, they furthered their relationship more than ever and sank it lower than before. She also vowed that if she ever did go back to him, it wouldn't be as quick as before.

With all these vows she made regarding Natsu however, she made just one more. She vowed that no matter what it cost her, she wouldn't stop until she saw his smiling face safe again.

"Arg!" Lucy groaned in frustration before twirling around and throwing a spare teal tank-top into the open suitcase on her bed. "I swear to God, Natsu Dragneel, you are insufferable!"

* * *

"Yukino, I just can't believe that Natsu would hurt Lucy like that. Are you sure we're talking about the same person?" Erza questioned in a less than enthusiastic voice.

"Yeah, as stupid as he is, It just doesn't seem like him," added Gray into the conversation.

The entire group- excluding Lucy- was standing in a circle at the entrance to the guild hall. They were waiting for Lucy and the minds of Team Natsu got restless with curiosity about the one topic they were all avoiding.

"Fine guys. Believe it or not, that's exactly what I heard from Lucy. I didn't think it sounded like him either until I looked into Lucy's eyes. I can't bear her being in pain. As much as I love Natsu, I'm going to make sure he's hurt when we find him if he's not already," Yukino exclaimed with a huff and a pout, making a strand of her silver hair fall into her eyes.

There was a thump behind them, and they all turned around with over-friendly smiles. Lucy was making her way down the stairs, looking behind her and tugging periodically whenever her suitcase got stuck on a step.

When she made her way to the base of the stairs, and finally looked up, she grimaced at the sympathetic smiles she was getting from all of her friends. She hadn't seen smiles like those since the last time she was crying in the Heartfilia mansion when she was a little girl. Of course, thinking about those memories also brought up ones of Aquarius, so Lucy decided to just smile sheepishly at her friends and offer a small wave.

Erza cleared her throat rather loudly and said sweetly, "Are you ready to go?"

Lucy pinched her lips together tightly and nodded stiffly before heading out of the large double doors, her friends right by her side.

* * *

Natsu woke up to a dark room. His hair was matted with blood, and he assumed his massive headache wasn't because he had been drinking. He did a quick survey of the room. He seemed to be in the corner of the room, he didn't dare to move his head to the side because he didn't want to further injure himself, but when he tried to lean back his back hit something cold and hard. To the left of him were two giant thrones. A castle? Natsu wasn't sure, but he did know that he was very high up. There were giant windows across from him, and from what he could see, there were clouds below. To the right of Natsu was a huge set of double doors. They reminded him of the ones in both the Sabertooth and the Fairy Tail guild halls. He then wondered if he could be in a guild hall, but eventually ruled that out when he realized he'd been to every guild hall in Fiore and this place didn't look familiar to him.

He let out a loud groan when he tried to get up and found himself restrained by a couple of chains tied to his hands. He landed on the ground again, his head pounding even harder than before. He tried to use his magic but found that that didn't seem to work either.

Then, the doors slammed open. A dark figure stepped into the room then. Natsu sensed an aura of death around him, and he didn't like that at all.

"Hello dear brother," He said in an eerily calm voice for the situation. He also offered Natsu a small, cold smile.

"Zeref," Natsu grunted back in response, staring intently at the floor.

Zeref stayed astoundingly quiet until Natsu looked up at him. Zeref smile once more and continued.

"I bet you'd like to know why I have brought you here."

"An explanation would be nice, yeah."

"Natsu," Zeref took a breath, his voice sounded like he was scolding Natsu for something. He waited a while before continuing again, or it might have been a while, Natsu wasn't sure as every second seemed like an hour to him.

"Natsu, I need your magic."

* * *

 **GUESS WHO'S BACK! It's me. I'm back. I am so very sorry for leaving this website for such a long time, but I am so hyped to be back and better than ever! I will finish this story this time, and not disappear off the face of the earth. Anyway, Zeref want's to take Natsu's magic! Talk about brotherly love. I guess we'll have to wait until the next chapter to know what's going to happen! P.S the next chapter is going to be out by Friday!**


	19. Chapter 19

**ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA.**

 **Beta'ed by TwilightTitan. She's an amazing writer. If you're interested in Teen Titans I 100% recommend checking her out!**

* * *

"What do you mean you need my magic?" Natsu hissed out at the figure emanating death in the middle of the room.

Zeref looked at his brother carefully. He watched his onyx eyes flash with indignation, he saw how Natsu was fighting against his restraints even though it was useless. His fight was admirable. Despite himself, he felt a rush of love towards the character tied up in the corner, but he quickly pushed that down with the thought of his agenda.

"I won't bother you with the plan. I've told you enough. It's not like I thought you'd give it to me willingly, I just thought I would be kind and let you know," Zeref said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"That's no fair!" Natsu shouted with a slight pout.

"I guess you never got past the mental age of 4, huh?" Zeref said with a sigh, looking away from Natsu. "Y'know, our parents would probably love the person you've turned into. I, however, just find it annoying."

Zeref walked over to the throne across from the large double doors and sat down. He looked over at Natsu and grimaced a little. He thought about his plan. The cannon, the guilds, the destruction. Zeref knew he was fearsome, and when he was just a boy, he didn't want to hurt anything. He didn't want to cause death. Now that he was older though, it was like a game. He couldn't reverse the way he was, so why not cause as much death and destruction as you possibly can.

Natsu was still in the corner, struggling, trying to use his magic, but to no avail. Natsu knew he wouldn't be able to do anything, but he couldn't help but wonder if any of his friends could. He thought about Lucy, and the pain he caused her. He thought about his guild being disbanded, and no one keeping in touch. He thought about Zeref using Happy to lure him into his grasp, and thought, no. As much as it pained him, his friends probably weren't going to do anything.

* * *

They've been walking for a day now, and Lucy couldn't help but wonder what would happen when she saw Natsu again. After she said it aloud, she realized that she was hopelessly in love with him. After having all that for a couple days, and then having it ripped away, she was, needless to say, apprehensive. She couldn't help but make up all of these different scenarios in her head, each as unlikely as the last. When she finally had her head filled with pictures of Natsu running away again, so he didn't have to be with her, she had had enough. She burst into tears, and couldn't stop. She was thankful that she was in Horologium so her friends weren't giving her weird or pitiful looks. She's through with all the looks. She felt like she was back being a newbie to the guild. Everyone gave her looks because they doubted her strength. A lot of people thought she shouldn't be hanging out with Natsu while she was still new to the guild, things could get pretty hairy. Well, she handled herself just fine, and kept Natsu out of trouble, too.

"Are we close?" She heard Gray complain from outside Horologium. She knew he envied her having a spirit to carry her, and she let out a tiny giggle. Next thing she knew she was on the ground because Horologium was on his way back to the spirit world. She grumbled before getting up and trudging behind her friends.

"Are we almost there?" Lucy asked, earning a glare from Gray. She couldn't help but smile slightly at his antics, and thought about how lucky she was to have at least one decent guy in her life. Though she could never see herself being into Gray like she was into Natsu, it was a nice thought.

"Actually, we're here," Sting said from the front of the pack. He had been using his nose to track down Natsu's location, and apparently, it had proven to be successful.

They all walked through a couple more trees, only to have their jaws drop. In front of the was the largest building they've ever seen. They couldn't tell how tall it was exactly, because clouds covered the top from view, but the building was entirely black, and gave them a weird feeling.

As if that wasn't enough to be wary about entering said building, the skyscraper also had a banner on the front of it. In big, bold letters were the words, " **ALL HAIL ZEREF**."

* * *

 **Hey guys! Sorry for the wait on this chapter! Happy Memorial Day! I don't really have any words on this chapter, but I can tell you that the next chapter WILL be up on Friday (I already have the chapter written). Review and tell me what you think. Have a nice rest of your day!**


	20. Chapter 20

**ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA.**

 **Beta'ed by: Akame3. This is the first chapter I worked with her on, and she is really efficient. I recommend you check her out!**

* * *

Walking through the doors of the building in front of them made Lucy's uneasiness spread from her stomach to her entire body. She shut her eyes at the feeling, not wanting to look in the building and find something particularly horrible. When she heard a sharp gasp in front of her—then another— she squinted her eyes open and gasped as well when she saw what'd shocked the others, too. Before her, she saw instead of a dreary old building—close to collapsing— the main room that could best be described as a hotel common room was presented. Lucy didn't understand it, but she chose not to question it as she went up to the counter in the middle of the room with everyone else. Sting, being in front of everyone else, rang the silver bell that was just sitting out in the open. It made a pleasant dinging sound before someone shouted from behind a door that was connected to the common room.

"Please give me one second!"

Everyone gave each other questioning looks but said nothing. Seconds passed and a person clad in purple robes stepped out of the back room. He was fairly tall and had dark brown hair, almost black. He looked kind, or at least his eyes did. They were in unfamiliar territory, however, so they didn't trust anyone just yet.

"Can I help you guys?" The man in front of them said. They all exchanged glances, unsure how to answer that question. They couldn't exactly just say, "You kidnapped our friend, and we want him back."

"Um, I think so," Erza took charge, being the most mature of the group. "Did you see a friend of ours come through here?"

"What does your friend look like?"

"Pink hair, onyx eyes, about 5'9," Lucy said stepping forward to describe Natsu. Immediately, the man behind the desk widened his eyes.

"Um, n-no!" The man seemed flustered. He suddenly knocked over some papers. He bent over to pick them up off the floor, and swiftly rose back up so he could see them. He spent a couple of seconds to collect himself and then sighed. "I think you should leave."

He looked all of them in the eyes, one by one. Gone was the warm glow in his eyes. Eye contact with him sent a shiver down all of their spines.

"But sir—," Gray started, being quieted down by an alarm sounding, and red lights flashing all around the room. All of the sudden, the sound of footsteps started down a hall to their left and got quickly closer.

"Well, I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice," Erza mumbled, flashing a glare towards the man in the purple robes. In the next instant, she requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor, and made a circle of swords in front of her, waiting for the army about to run into the room. Everyone behind Erza just smirked a little watching as the tiny army that came down the hall saw Erza, and tripped over themselves trying to get away. Erza grunted, and her swords flew towards everyone in front of them, effectively knocking them all out. Next, Erza turned towards the man behind the counter.

"That," she seethed, pointing towards the people lying unconscious on the ground, "Is what is going to happen to you if you don't cooperate with us." Even her friends found themselves scared of Erza at that moment, backing away slowly without a second thought.

The man hesitated a little before Erza brought forth another sword and pointed it at his throat. He squealed and told the group of friends to follow him.

The farther they walked into the labyrinth that was this building, the darker and drearier everything became. The warm light that illuminated the room they were initially in left and was replaced by a dark red light. The man that was escorting them had to grab a flashlight halfway through their journey.

After many staircases, twists, and turns, the group finally made it to a long stretch of hallway. At the end of the hallway was an ominous looking door, two guards on either side of it. The door was the first they'd seen to have decent lighting enveloping it.

"Thank you. You may go now," Erza said stiffly to the man in front of her that was leading the way. He quickly bowed before promptly running away.

The group of friends advanced slowly towards the two guards and the enormous door. They tried to be stealthy, but it didn't take too long for one of the guards to notice them.

"Hey, You can't be here!" one of the shouted, and Lucy had the strangest feeling she had heard that voice before. Before anyone could do anything, Juvia advanced, signaling them to stay back.

"Juvis is sorry, she got lost on her way to find the bathroom." Juvia bluffed, eyes downcast. Everyone shared baffled looks, but they weren't questioning why Juvia was trying to act coy with the guards.

"Nice try, lady, but we know you have friends with you," one of the guards said harshly, gesturing towards the rest of the group that was trying to hide in the shadows. Now Lucy was definitely sure she'd heard that voice before, but she couldn't think of where she heard it. Lucy tried to remember as the guards ushered their friend group forward.

When Lucy saw the guards face she inhaled sharply. Her eyes searched frantically for Sting and Rogue, wondering if they recognized him, too. When she found them, their eyes were already on her. She sent a pleading glance towards them before one of the guards poked her in the back.

"Get in a line, all of you!" He barked. They all got into a line, side by side and the guard she recognized stood in front of Erza at the end of the line. "When I get to you, you will state your name." He glared at Erza.

"My name is Erza Scarlet," Erza said strongly, leveling the guard's glare with her own. He moved on to the next person.

"Gray Fullbuster."

"Sting Eucliffe."

"Rogue Cheney."

"Juvia Lockser."

"Wendy Marvell."

When the guard made it in front of Lucy, he grinned a disgusting grin. "Nice to see you again, blondie."

Lucy looked at the ground, and she felt a hand grab her jaw roughly to make her look up.

"How about we start where we left off?" He asked. Lucy felt a single tear roll down her cheek.

"SKY DRAGON'S ROAR!"

Everyone was shocked when they heard Wendy shout. Out of everyone, they thought Wendy would be the last person to come to Lucy's rescue, merely because she was so young.

"Nobody's going to make Lucy cry and get away with it!" She shouted at the man as he was knocked to the other side of the hall, far away from Lucy.

The man let out a low chuckle and said, "you shouldn't have done that kid."

The fight began.

* * *

"Well, Natsu, it looks like your friends got here a little earlier than expected. A minor setback, but no matter. I shall get rid of them in no time." Zeref said to Natsu, leaning back against the back of his throne. The banging and shouts on the other side of the door lead Zeref to believe the fight was almost over.

The real one was about to begin.

* * *

 **Welp, that's another chapter down! Things are getting interesting now! Sadly, there are only a few more chapters, but after this story is over it won't be long until I start posting my next mult-chapter story called Self-Taught (I'm actually really excited about that story). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you next Friday!**


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